Moose is one of our 14 year old Christmas reindeer. For those of you that have met him you’ll know that he’s got such a sweet nature and loves human company. He’s never been a very pushy reindeer so naturally isn’t at the top of the pecking order so this is probably why he likes humans so much as we don’t push him around as much as the other reindeer. He now spends most of his time over at our Glenlivet site free ranging on the hills during the winter and spending the summer months at our hill farm where life is pretty easy indeed.
When Moose was a calf he was a bit smaller than the others his age. His mother Meas was a lovely female and came from a notoriously greedy family of reindeer. During November and December 2008 Moose was in my team when we went out on Christmas tour. I remember visiting a town near London and while the other reindeer were having their breakfast tethered in ‘set up’ before an event, Moose was completely loose doing his own thing. He’d go up and down the line of feed bowls belonging to all the other reindeer helping himself to their food. We weren’t worried that he would walk away as the herd instinct is very strong and he just wanted to be with his reindeer and humans. When we were in display pens and the public could visit us, Moose would walk around the pen greeting folk (or most likely looking for food). So, from moment one he was a little sweety!
He is now 14 years old which is a great age for a reindeer. But despite old age he is still one of the first down at feeding time and definitely first over when a bucket of lichen shows up. In his hay day he was a good Christmas reindeer trained to harness and pulling the sleigh but he’s too old for that now. He can leave that to the younger boys. He did however join a small team of reindeer and do a couple of local Christmas events in 2021. He joined a wedding party for a renewal of vows in local village Nethy Bridge and he also joined another team of reindeer to take part in an event in Tain. Being an old pro at these types of events he knows the drill. Travel up, walk beautifully at the back of the sleigh, eat his bowl of feed then lie down for a few hours while people enjoy his company… Such a celebrity! He’s definitely got it easier than Santa nowadays…
So there you are… meet Moose or if you’ve already met him then you can smile at the fact that you know him. What a character he is, he certainly makes me smile every time I see him 😊
Fiona